


This Thing Called Love

by AnnaTheHank



Series: A/C/G ot3 [8]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: A little bit of turbulence but the captain assures us everything is fine, M/M, Multi, emotionally stunted crowley, i love you bby but please acknowledge your feelings, lil bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 12:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20063752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaTheHank/pseuds/AnnaTheHank
Summary: Aziraphale and Crowley get a note from Gabriel asking for help tracking a demon. But while they're out, someone messes about in the bookstore. A.K.A. Crowley's caught feelings but wishes he didn't





	This Thing Called Love

**Author's Note:**

> you ever sit down to write notes for a story and end up accidentally writing the whole thing? Cause that's what happened here  
Also, wow, look at me, slipping in Phanuel again. Gee, sure hope that doesn't happen again...
> 
> Thank you all once more and once again for stopping by to read. I love you all!!!  
Just know that I have so many ideas planned for this series that I actually had to ask my discord friends which one I should write lol. At this rate I'll never get anything else written (wouldn't be the end of the world, I suppose)

It was a dark and stormy night. Crowley hated dark and stormy nights. It meant that they wouldn’t be going out anywhere, not to a play, not to a concert, not even to dinner. And Aziraphale and just gotten his hands on a new book just yesterday and was completely absorbed in it. Crowley could go out on his own and do something, but he was itching for some quality time from his angel.

He had even gone so far as to make Aziraphale a nice hot mug of cocoa.

“Oh, thank you, dear,” Aziraphale said, taking the mug from him, giving him a quick glance and even quicker smile. He placed the mug on the desk next to him and resumed his reading. 

Crowley frowned. He stood there for a moment, hoping his mere presence would get Aziraphale’s attention. When it didn’t, he resorted to drastic measures. He crawled his way into Aziraphale’s lap, muscling his way under his arms and settling himself right against his chest. Aziraphale moved to accompany him but continued to read, paying him no real mind at all. 

Crowley kissed at Aziraphale’s jaw, nipping at it just a bit. Aziraphale didn’t seem to respond. “Angel,” Crowley hissed. 

“Yes, dear?” Aziraphale brought one hand up to rest in Crowley’s hair, but not much else changed. 

Crowley growled and rested his head on Aziraphale’s shoulder. ‘Pay attention to me’ he wanted to say. But he couldn’t be seen being all clingy like that so he clamped his mouth shut and just sat there, simmering in his need. 

There was a rapid knocking at the door. 

“We’re closed!” Aziraphale called out. He shook his head. “Honestly, does no one in this town know how to read a simple sign?”

The knock came again, more rapid and urgent.

“Want me to go tell them off?” Crowley asked.

“Oh, oh would you?”

Crowley reluctantly climbed off Aziraphale’s lap, noticing the smile Aziraphale gave him. Maybe after this he’d pay him a little more attention. 

An angel was standing on the other side of the door. Crowley squinted at them. They looked awfully familiar but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. They were completely dry, the rain stopping just short of where it should fall on them. Crowley smirked and thought, better not let Gabriel catch you doing stuff like that. 

“Oh!” the angel said, eyes opening wide in surprise. “H-hello.”

Crowley squinted at them. “We’re closed,” he said, giving a bit of a hiss for effect.

“Ah. Yes. Well, I have a message here for Aziraphale.” The angel reached into the little bag on their side, pulling out an envelope. 

“I’ll be sure he gets it.” Crowley held his hand out.

The angel held the envelope back out of reach. “I really ought to give it right to him.”

“Well. Night then.” Crowley shut the door and walked back to the study, trying to keep the nerves in his body from setting themselves on fire. On the plus side, their new line of defenses seemed to be working. 

“Who was it, darling?” Aziraphale asked. 

Crowley sat himself back down in Aziraphale’s lap. “Just someone who was lost.”

Aziraphale looked down at him. “And did you give them good directions?”

It was amazing the kinds of things that would actually get Aziraphale’s attention.

“‘Course I did!” Crowley said. He took the opportunity to catch Aziraphale up in a kiss before he could turn his attention back to the book. Aziraphale chuckled and kissed him back.

They were interrupted by the knocking at the door.

“Gave them good directions, huh?” Aziraphale asked. Crowley shrugged.

Aziraphale stood up and Crowley wrapped his arms around his neck, using his core muscles to keep him held tight against Aziraphale’s body. Aziraphale shook his head and brought his arms up to support Crowley, carrying him into the bookshop.

“Angel, wait!” Crowley said. Aziraphale stopped. “Alright, I lied. It wasn’t someone looking for directions.”

“Really?” Aziraphale asked in a fake question.

“It’s an angel,” Crowley said. He nuzzled his head against Aziraphale’s shoulder, asking him please not to be mad. “Don’t let ‘em in.”

Aziraphale shifted a bit. “Which one?”

“I dunno. I think something that started with an F?”

A fourth knock, followed by, “Aziraphale? Are you there?”

Aziraphale sighed. “It’s Phanuel, darling.” He bent over, forcing Crowley to get down. “And it’s a ph.”

“You expect me to remember everyone’s names?” Crowley asked, crossing his arms and scowling as Aziraphale went to the door.”

Aziraphale shook his head again, opening the door. “Hello,” he said. “Sorry about the wait.”

“‘Salright,” Phanuel said. They held the letter out to him. “Message for you.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Aziraphale took the envelope, studying the writing of his name on the front.

“I didn’t read it or anything,” Phanuel said as Aziraphale turned it over, finding it was already open. “It was just really windy and the seal came off. Honest.”

Aziraphale smiled at them and took the letter out. “Oh, please do come in,” Aziraphale said, stepping to the side.

“Angel!” Crowley hissed.

“Thank you,” Phanuel said, stepping into the shop. 

Crowley glared at them then realized where he recognized them from. “Hey wait a minute! I remember you! Yeah! You tried to kill me back in Galilee!”

“Oh?” Phanuel said. “Awfully sorry about that.”

“Angel! Your friend here tried to kill me!”

Aziraphale shut the door, still reading the letter. “That’s nice, dear.”

“In my defense,” Phanuel said as Crowley threw his arms in the air. “You weren’t so nice back then.”

“I am not nice,” Crowley growled. 

“But Gabriel said-”

“What’s in the letter, Angel?” Crowley stalked over, ripping the paper out of Aziraphale’s hands. Aziraphale stood there, blinking at the spot where the letter hand been. 

Crowley glanced over it. It was terribly long winded and really, who wrote stuff like that anymore. In not so many words it detailed the extreme amount of demonic activity and how Gabriel was currently stuck in Australia, of all places (that phrase taken verbatim), and was worried about the current doings of a certain angel and certain demon teaming up. He wanted to know if Aziraphale would mind helping. It seemed Hastur was still in the area, and if he could keep an eye on the demon it would put Gabriel’s mind to ease. 

“Tell him we’d be happy to help,” Aziraphale said. He turned and smiled at Phanuel.

“I will let him know,” Phanuel said. They gave them a nod and left. 

“We?” Crowley asked. 

Aziraphale closed the door after Phanuel, his smile dropping as soon as they were gone. “I thought you’d like to help,” he said. “Besides, you haven’t seen field work for as long as I have. Figured you might miss it.”

“Yeah, except my field work didn’t generally involve stalking other demons,” Crowley said.

“Well, perhaps after we can go out and do some lovely tempting work together?”

Crowley huffed. He didn’t really want to help. But he did want to spend time with Aziraphale. And he figured he’d take it where he could get it. 

“Alright, fine,” he said. “But we’d better get an early night in if we’re going to be out and about all day.” 

He grabbed Aziraphale’s hand and left the angel no room to argue as he dragged him upstairs. Not that Aziraphale would have done much arguing anyway.

-

Phanuel had dropped by again in the morning to give the two of them coordinates, claiming they had no idea what the coordinates were for, really, they weren’t snooping at all. Aziraphale had thanked them. And even though they had been invited in earlier, Phanuel still had chosen to go to the door and knock instead of popping in. Crowley still glared at them.

“Well, dear, we’d best be getting along then,” Aziraphale said, grabbing his coat. “He might not hang around the same spot long.”

Crowley grumbled, putting on his own coat and wrapping his scarf around his neck and lower face. The cold front of the morning had frozen the rain from the night before. The sidewalks were a slippery disaster and what’s worse is that no one who was driving knew how to actually do it. 

“Oh no,” Crowley mimicked, stuck behind two cars both going rather slow. “There might be precipitation on the street. Better go FIVE MILES AN HOUR just to be safe!”

“Really,” Aziraphale said. He placed a hand on Crowley’s knee. “You must calm down, dear. They’re just being cautious.”

Crowley huffed. “You’re the one who said we had to hurry!” Crowley leaned to the side, looking at the road ahead. There wasn’t anyone up on the sidewalk so when there was a large enough space Crowley jerked the car to the side, skidding up on the edge so he could pass the two cars. 

“Crowley!” Aziraphale chided. “You can’t just drive on the sidewalk whenever you please! You could hurt someone!”

“There was no one there,” Crowley argued. “Besides. Got us around those lunatics, didn’t it?”

Aziraphale gave him a look but said nothing, as it had indeed gotten them around those lunatics.

-

Hastur hadn’t done shit all day. He was staying in a small flat over a little cafe. Aziraphale and Crowley were parked across the street, watching. He passed by the window every now and then. They couldn’t really see what it was he was doing. 

“We should just stay at home,” Crowley said. “Our defenses work, we’ll be fine.”

“He’s working with an angel,” Aziraphale said, still a little bitter that Gabriel hadn’t told him who yet. He should have held his help hostage until Gabriel told him. “They might be planning something that has nothing to do with you or me.”

Crowley leaned back in his seat, looking positively bored. “Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Aziraphale glanced back at him. “Another Anti-Christ maybe?” He raised his eyebrows and Crowley shrugged.

“You’d think Gabriel’d be all over that,” he said.

“I don’t think so,” Aziraphale said. “I think he’s coming along swimmingly.”

“You really think he wouldn’t drop us at the very hint of being able to fight his war?”

“No! Of course not.” Aziraphale looked back at the flat. He was quiet for a moment. “No,” he said again, much more quietly. 

Crowley sighed and reached into the back seat, pulling up the little tartan tin Aziraphale had packed. “Biscuit?” 

He opened the lid and held the tin out to Aziraphale. They each took one and Crowley enjoyed the satisfying crunch they had.

“Oh!” Aziraphale said, spewing a few crumbs out. Crowley looked at them with furrowed eyebrows. “He’s leaving!” 

Aziraphale brushed off his mouth and Crowley tossed the tin in the back seat, turning the car back on so they could follow him.

-

Hastur went to the park. And walked around. 

“He has to be plotting something,” Aziraphale said. He and Crowley were following him on foot now, watching as he looked at the trees and other greenery. The park wasn’t nearly as full as it usually was in good weather, but they still managed to blend into the crowd.

“Clearly,” Crowley said. “Or. He’s just enjoying the park.”

“Have you ever known a demon to enjoy the park?” Aziraphale asked. 

“I enjoy the park,” Crowley mumbled.

“Yes, darling, but you’re special.”

Crowley huffed, groaning a bit as Hastur went up to a little food stand. “This is ridiculous. Either Gabriel is pulling our leg or it’s some kind of distraction while something else is going on. Or both. Could be Gabriel’s just trying to distract us from what he’s really up to.”

Aziraphale frowned at him. “He wouldn’t lie to us like that.”

“Really? Has he told you who Hastur’s working with yet?” Aziraphale looked away. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“Look, if you don’t want to be here then just go. I’m perfectly capable of watching him alone.”

“What?”

Aziraphale looked at him, a hint of meanness in his eyes that Crowley had seen a few times before and that he hated. “He didn’t ask for your help, did he? You are under no obligation to stay.”

“Right. Fine.” Crowley spun around and walked back to his car. Let Aziraphale walk home in the cold for all he cared. 

He didn’t see the remorseful look on Aziraphale’s face as he left.

-

If it was before the apocanot, Crowley would have gone back to his apartment and moped about for a few days. He didn’t have that option since he moved in with Aziraphale. So he settled for returning to the bookshop where he would mope openly, purposefully ignoring Aziraphale until he apologized. Or Crowley got bored. Whichever came first. 

The door to the bookshop was open. Even though Crowley had left Aziraphale in the park and there was no way he could have beat Crowley back, his mind still raced with possibilities. When he looked at the bookshop it was on fire. His hands clenched at the wheel. 

If there was a chance that Aziraphale beat him home he could be in trouble. If Aziraphale was in trouble, Crowley had to act.

Now.

Crowley forced himself to move but he didn’t go as fast as he ought to. It took enough effort just to get his legs to move him in the direction of the shop, let alone get them to run.. Once he crossed the threshold the flames disappeared and he could relax a bit. 

“Aziraphale?” Crowley asked. There was no response. Crowley raced around, checking to make sure there wasn’t anything amiss. He called Aziraphale, hanging up as soon as the angel answered. 

Crowley came to a stop in the center of the store. Maybe someone broke in to steal a book? There were a few pushy customers that Aziraphale had turned away a few days ago. Then Crowley startled and he started moving bookshelves around. The symbols he and Aziraphale had drawn on the baseboards had been scrubbed clean. 

Near the front door, he found a little note. It said: A&C, sorry, F

Crowley crumpled the paper up and growled, a fire burning inside him. He had been right. Gabriel had sent them on a wild little goose chase so that he could send his goon in to undo their safety measures.

Crowley tossed the paper to the side and went back to the park. The bookshop wasn’t safe, and if it wasn’t safe, neither was Aziraphale.

-

After abandoning their tail of Hastur, Crowley and Aziraphale sat down on their bench, both looking around for agents of either side. 

“I simply don’t believe it,” Aziraphale said.

“Well, believe it, angel. I told you he’d drop us in an instant. Clearly they’re planning something and need us out of the way.” Crowley crossed his arms, scowling at the ground. 

“Crowley, you can’t honestly believe that,” Aziraphale said. He placed a hand on Crowley’s shoulder. 

Crowley shook his head, looking away.

“I know it hurts to think that,” Aziraphale said. “But I truly believe he cares about us. About you. And acting like he doesn’t won’t make it any easier.”

“Nothing about having him betray us is ever going to be easy,” Crowley grumbled.

“I wasn’t talking about that.”

Crowley squinted up at him. “Then what were you talking about?”

Aziraphale took a controlled sigh, eyes closing slightly as if he was afraid to say what he was. “Pretending like Gabriel turned his back on us won’t make handling your love for him easier.”

“I do not love him!” Crowley shouted. Aziraphale nodded, scooting back a bit. 

“Crowley-”

“I don’t! Crowley grabbed Aziraphale’s hands, looking into his eyes. “I love you.”

“Yes. And Gabriel.”

“No! I. Love. You.”

“My dear boy. Love is infinite. It can be shared-”

“No! I do not love him!”

Aziraphale’s face softened. He reached up, Crowley’s hand still gripping his as he placed it against Crowley’s cheek. 

“When we agreed to do this,” Crowley said, referencing their semi-open relationship, “I promised you that I would only ever love you. And that’s still true. And that will always be true.”

Aziraphale smiled. “Of course, my dear. Of course. Only me.”

Crowley’s body relaxed, his hands releasing Aziraphale’s. “Good.” He nodded and slumped back down into his seat, a slight blush forming over his face.

“So, what should we do about the bookshop?” Aziraphale asked, eager to change the mood.

Crowley shrugged. “Put more defenses up. And this time, when I tell you not to let an angel in, you don’t do it.”

Aziraphale nodded, looking a little sheepish.

“Aziraphale! Crowley!”

The two of them looked to the side. Gabriel was jogging up to them, his eyes wide open and surprisingly bright.

“Are you two alright?”

“What?” Crowley asked.

Gabriel looked between the two of them. “Phanuel said you might be in trouble.”

“Yeah. You would know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Crowley slouched down lower, glaring up at Gabriel.

“What are you talking about?”

Aziraphale stood up, fishing the letter out of his pocket. “Phanuel brought us a letter from you, asking for our help.” he handed the letter over to Gabriel, who looked at it perplexed. “And while we were out they got into the bookshop and erased our border defenses we had set up.”

“I-I never wrote this!” Gabriel looked between them again, his face going pale. 

“Yeah,” Crowley scoffed. “And you weren’t in Australia.”

“I wasn’t!” Crowley looked away and Gabriel turned his pleading eyes to Aziraphale. “I haven’t left heaven this whole time.”

“I know.” Aziraphale placed a reassuring touch to Gabriel’s arm. “I think someone has played us all for suckers.” He smiled a bit at his own inside joke.

“Phanuel...No. They couldn’t…” Gabriel’s body deflated. His legs looked weak and Aziraphale took his arm, sitting him down on the bench. Crowley got up. 

“I don’t think they were working alone,” Aziraphale said. “And it does seem like they were trying to help us.”

“How is erasing our symbols going to help us?” Crowley asked.

“Well, they did leave a note apologizing,” Aziraphale said. He looked at Gabriel, a bright smile on his face. “And it was a very clever note, too. See, they used and F instead of a P so that if the others found it they wouldn’t-”

“Angel!” Crowley cut him off.

“Right. Amway.” Aziraphale cleared his throat, sobering up a bit. “They also sent Gabriel here. In case whoever they’re working with tried to do something tonight.”

“Yeah. So fess up and tell us already so we know who we’re up against!” Crowley said.

Gabriel glanced at him and sighed. “I can’t. It’s official heaven business.”

Crowley growled, tossing his hands in the air and turning around. 

Aziraphale sat on the bench next to Gabriel. He placed a hand on top of his. “We can help more if we know,” He said. “You don’t have to deal with this all alone.”

“It’s Michael, isn’t it?” Crowley asked, spinning back around. Gabriel gave the briefest of nods. “I knew it! That wanker!”

Aziraphale shifted, taking Gabriel’s hand in both of his, not liking how cold it was. “We’ll figure this out,” he said. “Together.” He looked up at Crowley. “The three of us, yes?”

Crowley frowned. He crossed his arms and shuffled his feet. “Well, they are trying to kill us. Be pretty dumb not to.”

“There. See?” He looked back at Gabriel who was staring emotionless at the ground. “It’ll be okay.”

Gabriel shook his head a little. Aziraphale sighed and scooted closer. Gabriel didn’t fight it as he pulled him into a hug, pressing the other angel’s head to his shoulder. 

Aziraphale looked up at Crowley, raising his eyebrows a bit. Crowley shook his head. Aziraphale curved his eyebrows down a little, widening his stare. Crowley glared at him, biting his cheek. Aziraphale gave him the full force puppy-dog eyes. 

Crowley growled and sat on the other side of the bench, just fitting. “Don’t see why you're so upset,” he said. “We’re the ones getting targeted here.”

Gabriel tried to move but Aziraphale held him close, not letting him escape. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” Gabriel said, his voice a whisper mumbled further from Aziraphale’s shoulder. 

Crowley melted into his seat, snarling a bit. Aziraphale ran a hand through Gabriel’s hair, holding him close with the other. Gabriel was worryingly cold and Aziraphale knew it had nothing to do with the weather. He tried to give Crowley another look but he was avoiding him. 

“I need to get back,” Gabriel said, another unsuccessful attempt to escape Aziraphale’s embrace.

“Nonsense,” Aziraphale said. 

“Yeah,” Crowley said. “You gotta help make the bookstore safe again. Since it’s your fault it’s not anymore.”

Aziraphale ground his teeth together. It was alright if Crowley didn’t want to admit his love but he really had to stop being so mean as a way to handle it.

When Gabriel spoke, it was so quiet that only Aziraphale heard him. “You’ll never be safe.”

“C’mon then,” Aziraphale said. He got to his feet, pulling Gabriel up with him. “We best get to work then. They may be plotting something for the cover of night, yes?”

-

They put up new symbols, hiding them behind layers of tan wallpaper. They made some more primal defense systems as well. They hoped they wouldn’t have to use them.

“I really should get back now,” Gabriel said, putting up the last strip of paper.

“Oh, please stay,” Aziraphale said. “It’s already getting late and, well, it’s been a while.”

“I can’t. I need to keep an eye on things up there.”

“You idiot!” Crowley said. He had been reorganizing the bookshelves but stopped to look at them. 

“I’m sorry?” Gabriel asked.

“If Aziraphale asks you to stay, you stay!”

“Crowley, really, dear, it’s fine,” Aziraphale said.

“No!” Crowley pointed a finger at Gabriel. “Can’t you see he likes you? For whatever reason that would be! He wants to spend time with you and honestly you’re just being selfish!”

“What are you talking about?”

Aziraphale had half a mind to interrupt, but he was a little interested to see where Crowley was going with this.

“You only drop by whenever it’s convenient to you! Can’t you see how much he likes you?” Crowley took a step forward, hand gesturing to Aziraphale. “And it’s hard, you know? For him. To...understand all that when you’re gone all the time.”

Gabriel looked to Aziraphale for answers, but Aziraphale was just staring at Crowley with the smallest little smile on his face.

“But yeah, no, you’ve got ‘important work’ to do. So just, go on then. Fuck off.” Crowley turned back to the bookshelves.

“Crowley.” Aziraphale tried to sound disappointed but he only sounded a little saddened.

“I’m...sorry?” Gabriel said, looking at Aziraphale.

Aziraphale smiled, closing his eyes for a moment. “It’s alright. Do have a cup of coffee before you go, though?”

Gabriel nodded, if only out of fear of another outburst from Crowley.

Aziraphale led him into the back, giving Crowley a look. Crowley grumbled, pretending to fiddle with the books for a moment after they left. He sighed, his body relaxing for the first time in hours. 

‘Yeah’ he thought, as he followed them into the kitchen. ‘Totally handled that.’


End file.
